Published in the Iola Register on Jul. 5, 2013.

Concordia under water watch

By Jessica LeDucBlade staff writer

With the heat of summer still on the horizon, the city of Concordia is again under a water watch. At Wednesday night's Concordia City Commission meeting, a resolution was passed to place the city in a water watch. An order issued by the Division of Water Resources has again decreased the city's available water supply. Just as in July 2012, Concordia now has access to only 32-percent of its appropriation for wells 21 and 22. Both wells are located on East 11th Street, and provide a third of the city's water supply. Beginning July 4, and until further notice, the city is declared to be under a water watch. Citizens are asked to limit the amount of water they use for watering lawns, washing cars and similar activities.Water department employees will monitor the city's water usage, and if the city wells exceed an average of 1 million gallons a day for a five-day period, a water warning will be issued.In that event, City Manager Larry Uri can declare an even/odd lawn watering schedule be imposed on citizens. Residents with odd-numbered addresses would be permitted to water lawns on odd-numbered days, and vice versa. If a water warning does go into effect, outdoor water use for watering lawns or gardens would be prohibited between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily.Violation of any such restrictions will be an unclassified misdemeanor.The city's website, www.concordiaks.org, updates water usage daily. On June 27, 964,000 gallons were used, but that dropped to 842,000 on June 30th.Uri urged citizens to make a conscious effort to conserve water. He said keeping the city's water usage at or below 1 million gallons per day is optimal without jeopardizing the city's system, and would keep Concordia out of a warning."It (water warning restrictions) would be hard on people's lawns, but it's better than the alternative of having no water," Uri said.